TEAM & FACULTY

FACULTY

Academic Career

Ph. D., 1989, University of Delaware, USA In the filed of Molecular Biology

Career

Post-Doc., 1989-1992, Biology, Caltech, USA

Visiting scientist, 1999-2001, NIH, USA

Research Interests

Two-level inhibition of galK expression by Spot 42: Degradation of mRNA mK2 and enhanced transcription termination before the galK

Spot 42-mediated degradation of the galK-specific mRNA, mK2, and Spot 42-mediated Rho-dependent transcription termination at the end of galT. Because the concentration of Spot 42 drops during the transition period of the polarity type switch, these results demonstrate that type 1 polarity is the result of alleviation of Spot 42-mediated galK down-regulation.

Spot 42 binding to different gal mRNAs results in differential consequences in the galactose operon.

Spot 42, small RNA of 109 nucleotide-long functions through base-pairing of the 3 Regions in its 5’ half to target mRNA sequences. The Region I, II and III form 8-10 uninterrupted base-pairings with corresponding sequences of the target gal mRNAs. Out of 6 gal mRNAs, 4, mK1, mM1, mK2, and mT1, harbor the same Spot 42 binding site in different locations relative to their ends. We investigated the role of base-pairings of the 3 Regions on gal mRNA production.